Parrots – Page 3 – Pamela Clark, CPBC

Lessons from Ellie

Ellie Bare-eyed Cockatoo, came to live with me at the end of June 2019. She was adopted from Exotic Bird Rescue in Eugene, Oregon and has had a history of living in a home environment. She is eight years old and fully flighted. She is social with people and is, of course, adorable.

Ellie was completely new to me. I began our getting-to-know-each other journey with excitement and positivity. Ellie? Not so much. She showed some suspicion and wariness in her new environment, which is understandable. If I had been moved to a new home with a family I did not know, I would be pretty stressed out.

Early Preparations

I had prepared well for her introduction into my home. The family room is where I spend most of my indoor time and where Ellie would be living. I furnished it with ropes draped from the ceiling and a large rope “orbit” for her to land on if she chose.

Her cage was placed against a wall next to a window. She could see outside, as well as hunker down in her cage to avoid exposure to stimulation from the window. From her cage, she could see the cockatoos far off in their aviaries or while they were out flying. I also built Ellie a small aviary attached to the front of the house with access to it from the window next to her cage.

Martha Stewart would be impressed with my interior and exterior decorations for Ellie and I looked forward to watching Ellie’s enjoyment of them. In my mind, I saw her flying happily from rope to rope, swinging on the orbit, and bouncing on the boing. Oh, what fun we’d have!

Early Lessons

My first lesson from my teacher, Miss Ellie, was to lower my expectations and alter the above mental images. I’m so used to my lifelong ‘toos being active, exploratory, playful (especially young Bare-eyeds), and confident that I assumed Ellie would be the same way.

Even though she seemed to be a confident cockatoo, she did everything in slow motion. When she first arrived, she explored and considered each new situation with great thought and care. She was more of an observer than an action figure. Consequently, I too, had to slow myself down and not expect her to jump (or fly) for joy at my jungle gym set-up or explore the house and aviary on her own.

Ellie eventually became comfortable with her new home, and that’s when the “real” Ellie emerged—sort of like the movie, Alien, where the monster claws its way out of the human’s chest. OK, it wasn’t that bad, but this new Ellie certainly caught my attention.

End of the “Honeymoon Period”

Some people call the first two weeks or so, when a mature parrot comes to live in their home, the honeymoon period. The new parrot may be quiet, calm, and friendly to everyone so all is right with the world. We can be duped into believing that these are the permanent, unchanging qualities of our new friend.

Many times they are not. As the parrot becomes more comfortable and confident in his new environment, he will start to exhibit behaviors that may have been repressed in the beginning. Those behaviors may not be conducive to a happy relationship between caregiver and parrot.

Behavior is a function of its consequences; and, like all of us, Ellie has her own repertoire of behaviors that were reinforced successfully time and again during her life before she came to me. The science of learning tells us that a reinforced behavior will occur again. Unfortunately, some of Ellie’s old behaviors poked a few holes in our honeymoon period.

Signs of Trouble

For example, in the beginning I would walk Ellie around the house on my hand, which she seemed to enjoy. One of her favorite rooms was the bathroom. One day, while in the bathroom, she flew from my hand to the sink. She immediately went into the sink showing excitement. I asked her to step up, which was met with fluffed up head feathers and a cold stare. I knew what Ellie was saying: “Stay away from my sink!”

Our second troublesome interaction occurred in the family room. Ellie had become comfortable flying to the rope and hanging out. I was delighted with her having control of her environment. Unfortunately, she seemed bent on controlling me as well; and, she wasn’t using positive reinforcement (R+) methods to do so, that’s for sure.

For example, from her rope perch she would occasionally fly at me showing obvious aggression with her beak wide open, breathing fire like a flying dragon. Another instance was with her feed bowl. Ellie liked to bury her head in the bowl. Hiding her head in the bowl is often a nesting behavior for a cockatoo, as the bowl can represent a nest cavity. If I walked near the bowl at this time, she would often strike at me.

My Behavior-Change Plan

With the real Ellie showing me these not-so-compatible behavior traits, I made up a training plan using the science-based training techniques of environmental change and R+.

Using a target to remove Ellie from her cage.

First thing was to teach Ellie to target. This simple training behavior can help form a favorable relationship between learner and teacher by helping the learner understand that good things come from the teacher through operant learning; that is, Ellie could choose to touch the target to get a treat. This exercise teaches Ellie that she has control over the training and the treat reinforcement.

Targeting with Ellie

Allowing a student control is a very powerful reinforcer. If she didn’t want to participate, then I would leave. However, she soon learned that the food goodies left with me. On future training encounters, Ellie started participating and it wasn’t long before she was an expert at targeting.

Environmental Modifications

The next thing on the list was to alter Ellie’s dragon flying routine. I could do this in many ways. I could just put up with it and dodge her attacks. I could swat at her as she flew at me. I could let her land on me and bite me and not react showing her that this behavior is pointless (yes, this is advice given by some parrot behavior consultants!). Or, I could change the environment that would make her dragon flying less likely to occur. Using the least intrusive, most effective method, I chose the latter.

I took down the rope so that she didn’t have her launch pad available. I also replaced her feed bowl with a foraging wheel full of pellets so Ellie didn’t have any “nesty” type bowl to display in and protect.

Changes to the Daily Schedule

At the same time, I changed her daily schedule. Ellie now goes out in the aviary each morning with a treat. I make sure the aviary is full of enrichment, in the forms of grape vines and other plant material to forage on, along with a foraging net full of shredded paper, wood, and food treats. She engages with them all.

I also go into the aviary multiple times a day to practice step ups and step downs with her, as well as targeting using positive reinforcement with food treats. This is helping to change her perception of me from a possible threat or an enroachment on her territory into a person who delivers good things. I will soon start to generalize the step up behavior by practicing it in various parts of the house. This will expand her step-up repertoire, as well as establish it as a highly reinforcing behavior.

At dinnertime, Ellie is asked to step up from her aviary and then I put her in her cage with her dinner of sprout mix. It is fed in a bowl, but when she is done, I take the bowl out which helps curb the “nesty” bowl behavior. I give her a foraging toy as a replacement and she still has her foraging wheel full of pellets, if she so chooses.

Finally, I don’t allow Ellie to fly about the house, even with the rope being absent. I will eventually, but want to wait until we have developed a more solid, supportive partnership. Instead of clipping her, which many people resort to when they have a “misbehaving” flying parrot, I’ve changed the environment as previously mentioned by eliminating the ropes and other opportunities to fly. She can certainly fly in her aviary, of course.

I am enjoying the challenges Ellie is offering me. Using my knowledge of the science of learning and behavior and utilizing positive reinforcement training methods, I have no doubt Ellie and I will form a lasting and trusting relationship. It may take a few weeks or a few months and require many adjustments along the way, but we have all the time in the world. I take pleasure in the journey and look forward to the successes and challenges that are sure to occur.

The Latest News

Baby Bare-eyed made her grand entrance into her new world on July 20, at nine weeks of age. She came out of her nest box in the early morning.

Baby Star has fledged! She is on the right.

I didn’t see her exit so when I saw three cockatoos in the aviary instead of just two cockatoos, it took me by surprise. It also took me a second to understand it was the baby—call me slow. When it sunk in, great excitement ensued!

If you read my very first guest blog post, you understand that the impetus behind allowing these two Bare-eyed cockatoos to go to nest was Asta’s loss. In Greek, Asta means “star.” Therefore, it seemed a natural progression to name this new little one Star.

I’ll devote the next blog to baby Star’s exploits as she navigates her new world with the help of her parents. Stay tuned!

Just for Fun!

It has been fascinating to me to watch the interactions between Flash and Bebe as they have raised their new chick. Things have not always been friendly between the two. At times Flash has been aggressive toward Bebe. Currently, Bebe won’t let Flash near Star, now that she has left the nestbox. If only we could read their minds! In place of that, I have allowed them to work off a little energy by letting them out of the aviary to fly each day. Once outside the enclosure, they seem to remember that they are a bonded pair.

Release from the Aviary

Stay tuned! In my next blog episode, I will provide an in-depth look into the interactions between the parents and their fledgling. I am observing behavior that I’m not sure how to interpret and have written to other experts to see if they can shed some light on these. I will also continue to offer an inside look my world with Miss Ellie Bare-eyed. Until next time….

Chris Shank’s love of parrots and knowledge of animal training began several decades ago. Her professional experiences include a degree from the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College in California, an internship at Busch Gardens’ parrot show, work as a dolphin trainer at Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara and later in Hassloch, Germany.

Her love for cockatoos came after a relocation to the Philippines. Once back in the United States, she established her aviary Cockatoo Downs, where she has regularly offered training and education to parrot owners for many years now. She is an internationally-recognized expert in free flight.

Commentary on Free Flight: Part Two

It was a coloring book kind of day: blue skies with big, puffy white clouds and a yellow sun spotlighting the greens, reds, and browns of nature in every hue. Reb, my companion Philippine Cockatoo, was high on the top of a tree announcing that he was the master of his domain. Suddenly, he fell from the tree, opened his wings, and swooped down in an exhibition of perfect flight control. He does know how to dazzle his audience!

Which Parrots are Good Free Flight Candidates?

In my last post, I discussed the qualities necessary in the caretaker/trainer that must be realized before free flight outdoors should even be considered. Free flight is fraught with risks and is not appropriate for most caretakers and most parrots. In Part Two, I will be examining the qualities the parrot must have to be considered a candidate for this experience.

Reb is the perfect free flight candidate. Like all cockatoos, he came equipped with what he needed to be a flyer: excellent feather condition, two full wings and tail, eyes with perfect vision, legs and feet that were strong, ears that could hear – you know, the works. He was the standard model of a wild cockatoo and did not require any upgrades to fly successfully in the forests of his native country, the Philippines.

But he was not going to be a wild cockatoo. He was to be my companion free flying cockatoo. His future lay not in the jungles of the Philippines, but in the more restrictive and unnatural environments of a cage, aviary, and house, as well as daily flights outside. His flight education had to be shaped to accommodate such a life.

The Necessity for Fledging

The making of a first-rate companion parrot free flyer starts with the obvious—he must know how to fly well; and, the caretaker must know what that looks like. Many people describe their indoor flighted parrot as an excellent flyer. Upon observation by a more skilled observer, however, it’s apparent the parrot is in the kindergarten stage of flight skills. He flies weakly or with hesitation. Decisions made while in flight can be tentative and landings clumsy.

Watch local native birds. They’ll give you perfect examples of what a companion free flight parrot should exhibit. You’ll see a bird entirely in control. You’ll see a bird who flies quickly with coordination and strength as she takes off and lands. There is no hesitation in her decisions and reactions. You’ll see a bird who knows how to fly in wind and rain. She is as natural at flying as we are at walking. This is what we want to see in our companion free flyer.

Fledging is the optimal and natural time any bird learns to fly. It’s a time-sensitive window to intense learning for the young parrot. Once that portal closes, flight mastery is much harder for the parrot to attain.

If a parrot intended for free flight did not learn to fly skillfully during fledging, dire consequences can occur. It would be like letting a sixteen-year-old teen with little to no driving experience weave his way through busy city streets packed with trucks, impatient Lyft drivers, cars, and pedestrians. Sometimes it doesn’t end well.

The Process of Fledging

A young parrot doesn’t burst from his nest cavity as a perfect flyer. His flight skills develop somewhat slowly. The process starts in the nest where he flaps his featherless wings, building muscle. Later, when he emerges from the nest, he’ll grow in coordination and strength as he practices his developing skills. Providing a large outdoor aviary during fledging gives the young parrot the opportunity to develop his muscles, coordination, and confidence.

Years ago, my parent-raised Bare-eyed Cockatoos gave their fledglings a master class in learning to fly. As the fledglings left the nest box, they never ventured far from their parents while in the aviary. After a couple of days of aviary flight, I released the family to the outdoors where the parents flew to an ash tree next to the aviary.

The kids followed and, under the watchful eyes of the parents, spent the day climbing in the tree and practicing short flights from branch to branch. The parents encouraged exercise by moving about the tree and flying to the aviary. The youngsters would follow, all the while getting stronger and more confident. It was a little less than a week of this routine that the fledglings’ skills improved dramatically.

Does Species Matter?

Recently, I read a query on social media from a potential free flight caretaker: “What species is better suited to free fly, a Galah or an African Grey?” One response explained that the Galah was a better candidate, as the Grey was “wide-bodied.” Now that’s just plain silly! Being “wide-bodied,” whatever that means, prevents the Grey from flying well? It should be noted that watching a flock of wild Greys fly is watching precision in action. Their “wide bodies” don’t seem to handicap them in the least.

My point is that all bird species who evolved to fly well, do. Examples of species that have evolved with less than perfect flight abilities, such as domestic turkeys, chickens, and quail have evolved other survival tactics that get them through the day safely.

The Parrot’s Size

Size does matter when choosing a free flight candidate. Generally, the larger species, such as large macaws and cockatoos will attract less attention from a Cooper’s hawk. A Cooper’s hawk is a smaller-sized raptor, very common in the United States, who makes his living hunting smaller-sized birds. Typically, a Cooper’s wouldn’t try to tackle a large macaw or cockatoo, yet wouldn’t think twice about taking down a conure or Senegal. (Please note, any parrot, no matter the size, represents a meal to any hungry bird of prey.)

I fly smaller cockatoos such as Goffin’s, Bare-eyeds, and Philippine Cockatoos. Because of their smaller size, I am always conscious of the possibility of a Cooper’s hawk attack.

And it has happened. There is more safety in numbers, however, and my birds fly with at least three or more of their flock mates. The more eyes watching out for danger the better.

Even if a free flight parrot has been superbly trained, flying him alone is asking for trouble.

The Parrot’s Age

The age of the free flight candidate is an important factor influencing free flight success. The majority of experienced free flight trainers select young parrots, younger than one year of age, to train to fly outdoors.

Some people have older companion parrots, well past one year of age, they want to fly. Free flying an older parrot can be a lot riskier, making it necessary to evaluate many different factors.

One matter would be the older parrot’s learning history and life experience. For example: Has she been trained with positive reinforcement? Is she an enthusiastic learner? Does she have a solid background in flying? Did she have access to flying in an aviary, or just a house? Does she use flying as her primary mode of transportation? Does she fly without hesitancy? Is she fearful of new experiences or is she accepting of them?

Another factor to examine is the older parrot’s health. Is she strong and robust? Is she without disabilities? Does she have good eyesight? Are her feathers in excellent condition? All of these factors and more need to be thoroughly contemplated and answered honestly in determining if a companion parrot is suitable for free flight.

Certainly older parrots can be taught to free fly. As an example, my Goffin’s Cockatoo, Topper, came to live with me some years ago. He was in his early 20’s. He apparently had had a long history of indoor flight, because he was very adept at flying around my house.

The longer he was in the house, the more I became convinced by his confidence, skill, and strength that he could apply for the job of free flying. I embarked on his training and he earned his wings with distinction. I attribute his accomplishment to his plucky, inquisitive nature, his good health, original flight skills, and his readiness to learn.

Topper’s example will serve as the exception, however. The vast majority of older parrots will not be suitable for free flight. If you wonder about your own parrot, the best step you could take would be to have her evaluated by a skilled mentor.

Essentials for Success

This article is not intended to serve as a primer for evaluating prospects for free flight. I intend merely to open your eyes to the rigorous requirements for success when choosing the parrot candidate.

Further, I would be remiss by not underlining once again the importance of the companion free flight trainer. The caretaker must possess and practice good training skills while working with an in-person mentor for assistance in developing a free flying parrot. Without these two important factors, any parrot, young or old, should not be considered as a free flight candidate.

Watching your parrot explore the open sky using his skills to tackle the wind or fly to the tip top of a tall tree is exhilarating. It’s a dream come true for many parrot owners. I sincerely hope, however, that the considerations addressed in this blog and in my previous commentary (Part One) about free flying be taken earnestly to heart.

As much as I would like it to be, free flight is not an activity for the uninitiated parrot or caretaker. Please regard it as an extreme sport that offers an ecstatic adrenaline rush as well as heartbreak. If you are considering this experience, please proceed with caution.

The Latest News!

Baby Bare-eyed (BBE) is busy growing into a beautiful representation of her species. She’s a Bare-eyed in miniature. Her pin cushion body is now covered with smooth white feathers, she can raise her not-so tiny crest, and her eye patches are turning a lovely gun-metal grey. Her parents are doing a noble job raising up their kid. As of this writing, she is forty-four days old. I expect her to fledge in another 4 to 5 weeks. Excitement awaits us all!

Just for Fun!

This is Ellie. Miss Ellie came to live at Cockatoo Downs almost two weeks ago. I adopted her from a local rescue organization, Exotic Bird Rescue, located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. It is a fine group of people who have a series of foster homes set up to accept relinquished parrots.

I decided to add another Bare-eyed Cockatoo to the family after my dear Asta Bare-eyed died some months ago from cancer. Asta was a free flyer and lived in the aviary with her friends.

While she was ill, she lived in the house with me. I’ve rarely lived with a “house” bird and Asta showed me how much fun I had been missing. After her passing, the house seemed tomb-like, which prompted me to search for a Bare-eyed Cockatoo in honor of Asta.

What an adventure and learning experience it is getting to know a new cockatoo! Ellie is learning about me and I her. After a week, she has decided I will be an OK roommate and I know I made the right choice in inviting her into the family.

Ellie is a confident little soul, not much afraid of anything. She’s learning the layout of the house and is flying more and more on her own. She flies to ropes and a giant orbit I’ve hung for her. She’s learned to target to a chop stick. She steps up politely, often indicating she’s ready by lifting her foot.

I erected an aviary on the front deck and connected it to the front window so she has access to it at her choosing. The size is 10 feet long by 7 feet high by 5 feet wide.

For materials, I used electrical conduit pipe that can be found at Home Depot. Canopy attachments were used for the four corners. These are found at canopy supply websites. The wire is 1/2 by 1/2-inch galvanized wire, which I found at another home improvement store. This wire is suitable for an aviary that is for day-time use only. The cost was approximately $150.00 and took five days to erect, working on it for a couple of hours a day by myself.

Today, I showed her the open window for the first time and she slowly and cautiously made her way onto the aviary perch. She carefully examined the whole aviary, deemed it to her liking, and even added her own decorating touches by chewing on one of the perches.

Even though Ellie is in good health and feather, I imagine both will improve by her exposure to sunshine and fresh air that the aviary offers. My aviary is a simple home-made affair—nothing fancy, but does supply all the fresh air and sunshine needed to make for a healthy parrot. Consider putting one up for your companion parrots. They will thank you for it.

A great resource for ideas can be found on the Facebook page “Home Aviary Design.” This is a closed group, but anyone can ask to join.

From Rags to Riches: One Cockatoo’s Story

About 20 years ago, I took a series of parrot care classes from Jamie McLeod in Summerland, California at her store the Parrot Menagerie. I drove two hours one way on Saturdays to attend and it was well worth it. I learned a lot.

One day in the middle of a class, Jamie said something I have never forgotten: “Parrots are what you make of them.” This statement offers in a distilled version all you really need to know about living with parrots. And to illustrate, I want to tell you about Georgie Pink.

First Phone Call

Wendy called to talk to me one day when I was working as a veterinary technician for Oak Hills Veterinary Clinic in Salem, Oregon. We had never met and she was not a current client at the clinic, but someone had told her about me.

Wendy was seeking advice. She had never had a parrot before and she wanted to adopt a Moluccan Cockatoo. I spent the next 30 minutes explaining why that was a terrible idea. I do not consider Moluccan Cockatoos appropriate for first-time parrot owners and believe that keeping them successfully in your typical home is a difficult task at best. The number of cockatoos without feathers is testimony to that.

Second Phone Call

Wendy was undaunted. Two weeks later, I heard from her again. She had found a Moluccan Cockatoo that she wanted to adopt. He was a male, about two years old. He had been raised in a bird store, then adopted to a private owner, who then took him to a second bird store for boarding and never returned for him. He had spent a year at the second store before Wendy and her husband, Lee, came upon him.

After inwardly calming my own emotions, I explained why adopting this particular bird was a really terrible idea. Male Moluccan Cockatoos can be more challenging than females (in my experience) and this bird obviously had not had the ideal beginning, since he had so far spent his entire young life in bird stores.

On her end, Wendy was researching cockatoos and visiting with many species at the store. She listened to recordings of Moluccans screaming, talked to people who had experience with them, and realized that I was right – the odds of long term success were not good.

However, her thoughts always returned to this one bird. In her words, “I would see him again and realize I would do whatever it took to launch him successfully in life for the long haul.” Wendy understood that her best chances of success would be to have some professional guidance for this.

Game On

About two weeks later, she called again to say that she had adopted the male Moluccan from the store and wanted my help in creating a suitable home for him. While harboring some significant doubts, I agreed to help. Game on.

I gave her a shopping list designed to create a suitable physical environment for him – a King’s 506 cage, an Atom, an outdoor aviary from Corner’s Limited, and lots of suitable toys. A big bird like that needs a big life. As she remembers it, “I was on the internet with my credit card until 3:00 am, making as much happen as I could before bringing him home.” This amounted to several thousands of dollars in investment, about which Wendy didn’t blink an eye. Within a week, she had them all. I was impressed. This clearly was a woman who knows how to commit.

Wendy named him Georgie Pink.

When I asked her years later why she adopted him despite all of my advice, she had this to say: “Because I am crazy? Because I want to be deaf? Mostly because he was abandoned and I wanted to be the one to love him.” (You should know that this is a woman who once found a litter of field mice in a household drawer and hand-fed them until they could be released into the nearby pasture.)

Creating Appropriate Challenges

Once we had the physical environment in place, I made several suggestions aimed at creating an appropriate psychological and emotional environment for him. He would need learning opportunities, challenges, and a broad variety of life experiences.

We began with teaching him simple behaviors like targeting, then gradually created more difficult tasks for him. Wendy had never trained a parrot before, but she dove into the experience eagerly. At this point, Georgie knows 19 tricks which he practices regularly. Wendy says that he is only limited by her own imagination, in terms of thinking of things to teach him. He loves his training and learns quickly. He recently mastered a “rooster call” in one evening.

Georgie also has an inexplicable fondness for hats and models them eagerly. Wendy is happy to oblige. (She also throws him annual birthday parties.)

Creating His Social Experience

We talked at length about the importance of an appropriate social environment. Wendy closely followed my relationship advice, preventing the formation of a pair bond by not encouraging too much close time physically. To this day, Georgie interacts cooperatively and happily with Lee and many other people.

I frequently read on social media that “cockatoos need cuddling.” The opposite is true. Such activities appear to trigger increased production of reproductive hormones, which can lead to feather damaging behavior, aggression and increased noise. It’s a recipe for disaster in most cases.

Instead of focusing on physical affection, Wendy established and has maintained trust through consistency, respect, and the use of positive reinforcement. As a result, Georgie Pink is a good psittacine citizen with no behavior issues.

A Diversity of Experience

She took to heart the advice that parrots need diversity in their lives. Creating an interesting life experience for Georgie was the next challenge. This has taken a variety of forms over the past 14 or so years that she has had him.

Robin and Aviary — Robin with the Cockatoos

During the lovely Oregon summers, Georgie spends most of his time outdoors in the three aviaries on the property. There he has lots to chew, a large variety of perch types, and the ability to forage for growing vegetables.

Along the way, Wendy adopted a second Moluccan and an Umbrella cockatoo. She has a close friend named Robin, who is equally as kind and savvy about animals. Robin adopted a Moluccan of her own several years ago. The presence of other birds has helped to augment Georgie’s quality of life. Conspecifics are important to companion parrots.

Wendy did meet with some significant challenges. Georgie hated to bathe. However, keeping her eye on the goals to which we had agreed, she continued to work to teach him to enjoy this. Wendy gradually exposed him to different types of bathing experiences, using positive reinforcement. And, just look at him now!

Wendy and Robin have established a cooperative rotation for the birds. Wendy’s birds have “sleep-overs” at Robin’s house and Robin’s bird comes to visit at Wendy’s. This exchange involves traveling in the car, different enrichment, and a slightly different schedule. This variety of experience serves to increase quality of life and keep things interesting for all the birds.

Georgie also enjoys visiting nursing homes with Robin. He engages happily with the residents there, always gentle and enthusiastic about making them laugh. In Wendy’s words, “He is a happy, boisterous, loving, funny boy.”

This is a cute, heart-warming, happy story. It also offers us some serious things to think about.

Cockatoos are over-represented in rescue organizations and sanctuaries. Many will tell you that large cockatoos should no longer be bred in captivity. Over 50% of my clientele are folks who have problems with their cockatoos.

Are cockatoos the problem? No. We are the problem. We are the problem because we don’t acknowledge the depth of life experience that they have evolved to need. They are not much different than we. They need space, the experience of the outdoors, the chance to go places and learn new things, and a healthy diet in order to be their best.

Moreover, this is true for all parrots. Our tendency has been to vastly underestimate the scope of life that each needs, while at the same time engaging in over-protective practices, often narrowing their life experience to sitting on a shoulder for hours a day.

I often hear owners talk about their desire not to “stress” their birds. There is stress and there is STRESS. We should never intentionally scare our birds. However, bringing them just slightly out of their comfort zone to teach them to accept new experiences through the application of positive reinforcement training is a life gift to them.

We have much to learn from Wendy. This incredibly caring woman set many things aside for Georgie Pink so that he could have the best quality of life possible. Her dedication to her parrots is unparalleled in my experience, surpassing my own. Many thanks to her for allowing me to share her story.

Independent Georgie Pink wishes all of you in the United States a Happy Independence day!

Thank you for reading my blog. I am Pamela Clark, an IAABC Certified Parrot Behavior Consultant. My passion is helping people with parrots by offering behavior consultations and publishing information you can trust. To access free resources, schedule a consultation, or subscribe to my newsletter (which is a different publication from this blog), please visit me at http://www.pamelaclarkonline.com. Until next time!

Please note: Jamie McLeod is also the founder of the Santa Barbara Bird Sanctuary where she continues her extraordinary work with parrots and other birds. If you are able, please send her a small donation.

Commentary on Free Flight: Part One

In the minds of most people, watching a free flying bird of any species command the sky summons up feelings of freedom, independence, awe, and flights of fantasy (pun intended). When people are asked what special skill they would like to have, many answer… the ability to fly. Who wouldn’t? Swooping and soaring a sky that holds no boundaries or limits does offer ultimate freedom and control.

The Realities of Free Flight

I wish the reality of flying companion parrots outdoors replicated these romantic notions. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. The open environment of the sky has many speed bumps and obstacles that flying birds must navigate. The list is as long and complicated as a peacock’s tail and includes things such as weather conditions, wind, predators, buildings, cars, hunters, and neighbors. Nevertheless, many parrot owners dream about offering their beloved companion the experience of flying the open sky.

S.Macaw.M.Major.CDRetreat — Photo by Marinka Major

There’s much to consider before offering a companion parrot outdoor flight or, as it is commonly called, free flight. Free flight, along with indoor flight, is a complicated and training-dense activity. Compared to indoor flight, free flying a parrot comes with an extra layer of consequences that can endanger the parrot’s life. With that in mind, let’s examine what I expect a competent free flight candidate to look like.

The Caretaker Trainer

The first element in determining whether a parrot is to be a successful flight candidate is not the parrot. Wait, what? In fact, it’s the parrot’s human partner that determines whether the bird fails or succeeds. A close look reveals the following facts:

All flying bird species are excellent candidates for flight. Bird species meant to fly come equipped with the proper flight paraphernalia and mental acuity to do so.
Captive parrots are also born with everything they need to successfully fly.
Companion parrots are more often than not thwarted from learning to fly properly when humans clip the wings of fledglings or do not provide an environment conducive to learning all their flight skills.
The training skills possessed by the average parrot caretaker typically do not reach the minimum requirements needed to produce a truly successful and safe free flyer.

It is the human component of the free flight equation that holds the key to a successful experience. It is essential that the parrot caretaker must be skilled in using positive reinforcement training. “But wait!” you say. “I’ve heard that if I hand raise a parrot, he will naturally bond to me and won’t want to fly away.” Sadly, this popular belief is fundamentally flawed.

Isn’t Our Bond Enough?

It’s true that by hand raising a parrot, a bond is normally created between caretaker and parrot. Unfortunately, some people believe this is all that is necessary for free flight and consequently, do little if any training. It’s like thinking your puppy will automatically come when called as an adult because she’s “bonded” to you. We all know that usually doesn’t happen.

Without a strong foundation of training, the bond that is created from hand rearing can and does break down as the parrot matures. Even if the bond does grows stronger, it won’t ensure the free flight parrot will be safe or competent in his flying.

The parrot must be taught the basic behaviors all parrots should learn. These include stepping up and down on cue, recalling, entering a carrier, and acceptance of husbandry procedures such as stepping voluntarily onto a scale to be weighed. Not only does this training help develop a confident bird, it goes hand in wing with creating a trusting working relationship between caretaker and parrot.

Necessary Factors

My intent is not to inform readers about how to train a parrot for free flight. I will, however, provide a short list of some of the factors that are involved.

Along with the behaviors mentioned above, the parrot must be taught to fly up from low places and down from high places while developing the physical strength to do so. He must be desensitized to the outdoors by becoming familiar and comfortable with his outside surroundings. He must be given the opportunity to fly in the wind, rain, heat and cold. He must respond to an outdoor recall cue from his caretaker. The list goes on and on.

The human partner to the free flying parrot must have a working knowledge of how to train with positive reinforcement, force-free techniques. Since the use of positive reinforcement and training in general are still not in daily practice by the majority of caregivers, it is likely that the “typical” parrot owner is not well-skilled in training, let alone training for free flight.

Because of this, I highly recommend that the caretaker seek the in-person coaching of an experienced parrot free flight trainer; someone who will guide and support the parrot owner through the process of training.

Online Courses vs. Direct Mentoring

There are trainers online who offer courses in free flight. They offer little more than an outline to follow. Even if they provide help by critiquing videos of their customers training their parrots, it’s just not the same as having an experienced mentor there by your side. Parrots and their people are individuals who have nuances, personality traits, and physical aspects that don’t translate fully via a video or even through discussion. The training mentor simply must be involved in person for the parrot owner to gain the knowledge that is needed to fly a parrot outdoors.

This brings up yet another factor in the making of a capable human flight partner – truly understanding the dangers involved in flying the parrot outdoors. This is another area in which having an experienced trainer by your side is essential.

And to this end, the trainer caretaker must examine whether she has the inner fortitude to accept that her parrot, no matter the proficiency of training, could be lost, injured, or killed at any time during flight. This understanding and acceptance are perhaps the most difficult things to acknowledge and internalize before undertaking the flight training of a parrot.

I am a realist when it comes to free flying parrots and after forty years of flying my cockatoos, I still, to this day, heave a sigh of relief when everyone is put away safely after flying. No matter how much we love our parrots and wish for them a life as close as possible to that of their wild relatives, launching them into the open sky unprepared or partially prepared is a recipe for disaster for both the parrot and her person. There is a steep learning curve for all involved.

So, please, if you are considering free flight for your bird, do a conscientious examination of your personal attributes, talents, deficiencies, personality, and your motives when it comes to wanting your bird to free fly. If you’re honest, the answers will influence whether you proceed with flying or not.

The Latest News!

We recently held a training workshop here at Cockatoo Downs. We invited Susan Friedman and Peggy Hogan to head the weekend and dispense their knowledge about training and behavior to an eager group of trainers. The enthusiasm from the people who attended was palpable and infectious.

Susan Friedman, PhD gave a fascinating presentation about the fact that control is a primary reinforcer, as important to the animal as food. As she stated, “Control is a biological necessity.” Any behavior offered moves the environment – much like a stone tossed into a river. It creates ripples; behavior does as well. All animals behave in order to control their outcomes – access reinforcers or avoid aversives. The reason that animals and birds love training so much is because they are offered the chance to control reinforcers through their behavior.

And, in fact, she stated her belief that a lack of control for a parrot is a risk factor for feather damaging behavior. “Control is the nucleus of behavioral health.” This is one reason that Pam and I lobby so strongly for allowing indoor flight whenever possible for companion parrots.

Susan contrasted training theory held as gospel 20 years ago to the new concepts some trainers are learning to embrace today. Two decades ago, trainers believed that all behavior needed to be under cue control. In other words, the animal should not offer a behavior unless a cue had been given.

A more modern training approach offers the animal more control, in the form of start buttons and request cues. Training is seen as a dialogue between the trainer and the parrot.

This information was kind of a mind blower for me and I’m still digesting the information she shared.

Peggy Hogan presented on start buttons, otherwise known as “yes” or “consent” signals. These allow the animal to communicate when it is ready to proceed with the training task or behavior. Peggy is a zealous campaigner for using start buttons in our training, as this gives the animal control and establishes a dialogue between learner and teacher. Powerful stuff!

Discussions carried on while attendees were coached in working with the cockatoos and equines. Ann Dahlen brought her adorable (is there any other kind?) mini horses and generously allowed people to work with them. Violet, my donkey who easily shows fear reactions, nonetheless sought out any human who was willing to partner up. She’s learned over the last two years of living here that people mean good things. She’s trying hard to be braver each day and it’s paying off.

Flash and Bebe, the Bare-eyed parents, participated in their own way. They have continued to “ask” to go out flying each morning. When I let them out to fly, I seized the opportunity to show off their chick to the training group. The parents accommodated by flying up and away and out of sight. As I brought the chick out of the box she dazzled everyone with her cuteness! In the photo she is 21 days old.

Once the parents were safely back in their aviary, it was easy to see that they were nonplussed by the ten or so people moving about during training sessions. Pam even went into the parents’ aviary at one point and Flash flew to his perch for a quick targeting session while Bebe manned, um, womanned, the nest box watching the action from the entrance hole.

It was a weekend not to be forgotten anytime soon and we were all grateful for the extraordinary learning opportunity we received from Peggy and Susan.

Just For Fun

The free flyers are enjoying time at the creek at Cockatoo Downs. It’s always fascinating to me to watch their interactions with the environment.

In this case, I was sitting on the footbridge while the cockatoos explored the creek. The creek offered an opportunity to practice what comes naturally to a wild cockatoo and that is finding and drinking water. In this video clip the cockatoos learn that drinking water is not always in a bowl. What a concept!

Socializing Young Parrots

Why do young parrots need to be socialized? Aren’t they snuggly, compliant, and cooperative from the get-go? Unfortunately, they are not.

Parrots are only a generation or two away from their wild counterparts. They have not been altered by generations of domestication. They come to us fully packed with all the instincts, mental tools, and patterns of behavior that help them navigate and survive successfully in nature.

Typically, this exquisitely developed system for survival does not serve the parrot well in a home environment. Hence the practice of hand-raising parrot chicks, which tames them before they realize they are “wild”.

Hand-rearing assists in making parrots pliable and adaptable to living with people; but, is it the easiest and best way to accomplish this goal?

The Complexities of Hand-rearing

Possibly not, as the caretaker must know and understand a multitudinous number of important concerns and responsibilities such as: (1) Feeding a correct diet to the chick every few hours, (2) keeping its environment clean and at the correct temperature for comfort and optimal growth, (3) giving the chick appropriate physical attention, (4) allowing him to grow up with conspecifics, (5) providing unforced weaning, and (6) most crucially, allowing him to fledge fully and confidently.

There are scores of other details often not seen or even thought of when raising a parrot chick, with many of them overlooked, unrecognized, or just plain ignored by the caregiver.

As one example, we have evidence that the diet fed to wild chicks is significantly different than that which we use for hand-rearing in captivity. This raises important questions.

Wild vs. Captive Chick Feeding

Most parrot species in the wild feed chunks (an “undigested regurgitate”) of a wide variety of foods to their chicks. This is true no matter the age of the chick. (Cornejo, 2012) Contrast this with the unvaried “gruel” typically used for hand-feeding by breeders. Further, many parrots in the wild feed tree bark and small pieces of wood to their babies. As you will read below, our Bare-eyed parents at Cockatoo Downs choose to do so as well.

The fact that this “undigested regurgitate” remains in the crop for longer periods allows for crop sampling, which has resulted in the research cited herein. Crop contents have been compared to our standard hand-feeding formulas; with the latter coming up short in fat content and some nutrient levels. Further, hand-fed parrots grow more slowly than do parent-fed babies. (Cornejo, 2012)

A life-threatening problem with hand-reared chicks is crop stasis, in which the contents of the crop are not emptied. This may be due to the finely ground texture of hand-feeding formulas. (Brightsmith, et al. 2010) It has been hypothesized that the small pieces of wood and bark found in crop contents may assist in the emptying of the crop, in addition to providing additional minerals and fiber. (Renton, 2006)

But this isn’t a treatise on hand-rearing. I just wanted to emphasize the difficulties and complexities involved, as well as the questions that research has raised. Let’s move on to how it’s possible to form partnerships with parent-raised “wild” youngsters by using positive reinforcement training (R+).

Relationships with Parent-Reared Chicks

We try our darnedest to use R+ training exclusively with all the cockatoos at Cockatoo Downs. Briefly, that means when training or cuing a behavior, the bird is given a favorite food treat when the behavior is performed. Reinforcing a behavior with something the parrot likes makes it more likely that the action will be repeated.

For example, if my cockatoo steps up willingly and politely onto my hand, she gets a treat. If she is on a play stand minding her own business, she is reinforced with treats or activities for doing so. If she flies to me when called, she again gets a yummy food item or a quick head preen. Reinforcers in the form of food treats, head scritches, or anything the parrot likes are offered each and every time. The cockatoo sees me as the go-to source for all things good and chooses to readily perform the behaviors I request.

We set up our training environment in safe surroundings, limiting stress as best we can, and working in short sessions. We are mindful of an assortment of things: the training environment, the bird’s willingness to engage, and knowing when to continue training or to end the session. This list, along with an assortment of other components necessary for successful training sessions, creates a learner who is willing, motivated, and trusting.

The parent Bare-eyed cockatoos, Flash and Bebe (both parent-raised), grew up immersed in R+ training. This has made them trusting of me; and, this trust has generalized to other people, demonstrated by the fact that they are willing participants in working with attendees who come to our training workshops. My hope is that Flash and Bebe’s relaxed and engaged manner with me, Pam, and other people will influence positively their new chick’s behavior.

Because the cockatoo parents show little stress around us and actively seek our attention, their engaged behavior should transfer to the young fledgling and help her more easily adapt to our presence and eventually come to find people as sources of good things.*

What Do We Really Want in a Cockatoo?

Let’s start with a description of what a trained parent-raised cockatoo represents for me. First, I want the cockatoo to be independent and to grow up knowing she is a cockatoo. That’s easy to accomplish with parent- raising. She’ll obviously identify with her parents and not me.

Second, I want her to seek physical and emotional support from her cockatoo friends, not necessarily me. That may sound cold-hearted, as if I don’t really care about her.

On the contrary, I believe it’s healthy for a parrot to grow up identifying as a parrot, and learning appropriate parrot behavior. I celebrate that and want to keep her self-image intact, rather than have it replaced by the more typical image – a snuggly cockatoo, dependent on people to fulfill her life. In short, I celebrate my cockatoos being cockatoos.

Third, I desire my cockatoos to have basic manners and behaviors that make living with people conducive and successful. That means stepping up when asked, coming when called, learning to live in a cage, and learning to go into a travel crate. With these foundational skills accomplished, we can move on to learning other fun stuff like flying thru hoops!

Fourth, I want my cockatoo to engage with other people. I want her to seek out people and investigate what they have to offer her. I want her to be able to anticipate that strange people are cool animals, who most likely will have blue-ribbon goodies to give her.

Now, do I accomplish all of this in my training of parent-reared birds? Usually, yes, although it’s always a work in progress. Working with my parent-reared cockatoos is an ongoing learning experience for all of us, most especially me.

Early Stages for Training

The following outlines the training I anticipate doing with this new little one. I’m sure these steps will be modified as I go forward:

While the chick is still in the nest, I work with the parents on simple behaviors, such as targeting or turning around on the perch, while in the aviary. This keeps the parents engaged and maintains the partnership between us.

I feed the parents treats when I walk by the aviary, if they approach me at the feeding station.

When the chick first leaves the nest box to fledge, I will assess the parents’ behavior and actions, which will indicate to me whether or not to enter the aviary. I will respect their wishes if their body language says, “Do not enter.”

When I can enter the aviary to train, I will start by just handing the parents treats, while the fledgling watches.

The next step will be to work with the parents while moving closer to the fledgling as I do so.

Gradually, through small baby steps, we will work toward including the fledgling in our training.

Training requires awareness and mental flexibility, along with thoughtfulness and commitment. We want to work with the cockatoos, not against them. They call the shots.

What is so wonderful about working with parent-raised birds or even flighted parrots, is the sensitivity necessary for effective teaching. It requires us to stretch and grow our capabilities and offers us untold lessons. In the end, we become better observers, trainers, and appropriate partners to our parrots.

So what’s the easiest way to socialize a parrot chick? Turns out hand-rearing and parent-rearing can be equally challenging. In the end, it’s up to us to determine which is more humane and ethical for the parents and their chicks. I’ve chosen the path less traveled: parent-rearing cockatoos.

*Research has shown how stress can be transferred between members in a gull family.( https://www.pnas.org/content/114/26/6794)

The Latest News!

Flash and Bebe, like all of us in close relationships can, had a tiff a week ago. Bebe wanted to go into the nest box to brood the chick and, for whatever reason, Flash thought otherwise. He wouldn’t allow her near the box and would chase her around the aviary endlessly. What to do? The only thing I could think of was to let them both out to free fly.

I can hear you gasp. Please know that Bebe and Flash have free flown at Cockatoo Downs almost daily for nine years. They know every bit of the territory. They realize the dangers and their flight skills are beyond reproach.

That said, I was more than a little nervous to let them out. My gut, though, was telling me Flash needed to work off energy that was somehow affecting his relationship with Bebe.

I knew they were both highly invested in their chick. I believed that allowing them out to fly would not in any way diminish their instincts to raise the little one. So, holding my breath, I opened the aviary door and out they zoomed.

The cantankerous pair I saw in the aviary instantly transformed into a well-oiled flying machine. They flew together closely and precisely circling the property. Every flight move was made in tandem in perfect coordination. There was no strife, no bickering. It was a beautiful thing to see.

I took advantage of their absence to get my first peak into the nest box. Two eggs had been laid, but only one chick had hatched. Her full crop assured me that she is being well-cared for and comparison photos indicate a solid growth pattern.

After about forty-five minutes of flying and visiting their cockatoo neighbors, Flash and Bebe returned to their aviary. Bebe immediately went into the box and I soon heard the chick peeping loudly as she was being fed. Flash sat calmly on a nearby perch preening. His angst and irritation had vanished and he was at peace with his world.

Another fascinating development: I have observed Flash and Bebe eating tree bark when out flying and then feeding this to their chick, just as wild parrots do (see section above). Since this seems to be an important need of theirs, I have begun bringing branches into their aviary for consumption.

Just For Fun

I went for a short bike ride up my road the other day. It was windy and pleasant. Rebbie, Tyke, and Ritzie were out with me. Reb loves to ride with me on my shoulder as I pedal along. The other two flew low next to me as Reb and I rode up the road.

I turned back for home, riding downhill and into the wind. Reb’s cheek feathers ruffled as he held on tight, leaning into the wind. The other two had perched on a fence post watching as we rode towards home. Reb soon figured that it would be easier to fly than hold on. Off he went, whooshing up into the wind while Tyke and Ritzie left their post to join him. What a sight to behold! I so look forward to having the new little Bare-eyed chick grow up and be able to experience all the excitement free flying has to offer her. And I look forward to sharing her adventures with her.

Cockatoo Downs… Location of Adventures in Living with Parrots

References:

Brightsmith, D, et al. (2010) Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery 24(1):9–23, 2010 ’ 2010 by the Association of Avian Veterinarians. ” Nutritional Content of the Diets of Free-living Scarlet Macaw Chicks in Southeastern Peru”

Cornejo, Juan (2012). Doctoral dissertation for Texas A & M University: “Insights on Psittacine Nutrition through the Study of Free-living Chicks.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293175636_Insights_on_Psittacine_Nutrition_Through_the_Study_of_Free-Living_Chicks

Renton, K. (2006). Biotropica: The Scientific Journal of the ATBC. “Diet of Adult and Nestling Scarlet Macaws in Southwest Belize, Central America” https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00123.x

Disclaimer:I do not recommend nor promote that companion parrots be flown outside without the owner having a solid knowledge of training and behavior and also being assisted in person by an expert parrot trainer with extensive experience in free flight.

How to Create A Bullet Proof Relationship with Your Parrot

Short on time? Living with parrots can certainly take a lot of time, if we factor in what’s needed for food preparation, toy making, cage cleaning, and social interaction. It’s tough to keep everything in balance, especially since life seems to be speeding up for all of us. We do the best we can and, in most cases, life with parrots seemingly moves along smoothly.

However, in the midst of this juggling act, our relationships with our birds can begin to hang in the balance and we aren’t even aware of it. Problems aren’t evident on the surface.

Then, an incident happens suddenly, such as an illness or injury, which requires medication given by force. Or perhaps, trust breaks down slowly over time, due to the perceived need to use coercion every once in a while to get the bird to step up and go back into the cage.

Then suddenly, we realize that our relationship with that parrot has tanked. He displays either fear or aggression (two sides of the same coin) and we are helpless to fix the problem. There are solutions for these circumstances, of course. But, wouldn’t it be so much easier to prevent such a loss of trust in the first place?

What if I told you that I have a sure-fire way for you to maintain trust with your parrot, even after a breach has occurred, by actually spending very little time? Many people assume that relationship-building with companion parrots requires a lot of one-on-one interaction, including abundant displays of physical affection.

This is not true. Further, this approach to social interaction leads to weak relationship formation. It feels good, but doesn’t actually accomplish anything of lasting value that will stand the test of time. Further, it often leads to problems.

Authors Maddy Butcher and Dr. Steve Peters in their book Horse Head: Brain Science & Other Insights discuss this phenomenon in their chapter “The Science of Comfort.” They give credit to horseman Randy Rieman for the quote: “Your circle of comfort and your horse’s comfort must constantly expand, otherwise they will shrink.” This is true for parrots as well.

Butcher and Peters define comfort as “a place, a situation, a feel where nothing bad every happens. Comfort can be a protected environment or a state of mind. We can be guilty of keeping our horses [parrots] in that perpetual comfort circle, where nothing is allowed to rile them.”

However, as the authors claim, we must experience discomfort at times in order to appreciate comfort. In this case, “discomfort” comes in the form of training (teaching). In Evidence-Based Horsemanship, authors Dr. Steve Peters and Martin Black describe the ideal learning environment “as one that takes the horse [parrot] to a state just outside its comfort range. It’s a place where the horse [parrot] feels curious and a bit concerned.” They go on to describe the moment when that “moment of learning (and discomfort) is over” as one in which there is a rush of dopamine.

This is actually a perfect description of what happens in positive reinforcement training. When we use positive reinforcement, we are rewarding the parrot with a highly valued item for performing a desirable behavior we have asked for or that we have observed.

Behavior that is reinforced tends to be repeated. So, positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding. However, the use of positive reinforcement not only strengthens behavior – it strengthens relationships. It creates bullet-proof relationships.

This is true because positive reinforcement training builds a history of reinforcement. The implications of this actuality have been virtually ignored in parrot-related literature to date. And, in fact, this has not been a well-researched area either, with the exception of studies done to determine the impact of different schedules of reinforcement on this phenomenon.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to bog this down with a bunch of behavior and training jargon and concepts. I want to keep this simple.

For the purposes of this post, you can think of a history of reinforcement simply as a parrot’s length of exposure over time to the use of positive reinforcement in a variety of scenarios.

Thus, a history of reinforcement is the product of training. I think that the concept and need for training is still not widely understood or accepted in the “parrot community.” In fact, I came across just yesterday on Facebook yet another person who asserted that training parrots is demeaning to them.

This stance is ridiculously foolish. Training is simply teaching – offering another person or animal the option of learning. We would not think of living with a dog without teaching him to sit. Why would we live with the more complex parrot without teaching him desirable behaviors that make life easier and increase quality of life for him?

In my mind, there is no difference between training and behavior modification. The latter are the words typically used when we refer to behavior consulting strategies. But, behavior consulting always involves teaching new, more desirable, behaviors to replace the undesirable.

Let’s examine these concepts from a few different angles, with a couple of stories thrown in along the way to further your understanding.

It’s very common to read or hear about a parrot choosing someone as “their person.” It’s true that parrots will often show this type of initial “attraction” or preference to a particular person. However, this is most often based upon a parrot’s social history rather than “love at first sight.” The latter is a more romantic view of it, but it’s most often just a reflection of history.

If a parrot was more closely bonded with a woman in his previous home, then he will show a preference for the woman in his next home. If a parrot was more bonded with someone who is short and wears glasses, then he will show a preference for any short person with glasses who visits the rescue organization looking for a parrot to adopt.

This is a reflection of a history of reinforcement. If he was more bonded to a woman in his past, it was because she was more reinforcing to him than others in the house.

And here’s the screwy thing – we buy into this. We are so flattered that we have been “chosen” that we don’t realize what’s really going on. We buy into the myth that the bird likes us more because we are special, rather than realizing this behavior simply represents the fact that we offer a measure of familiarity in an unknown land.

What then happens is that others in the house also buy into this myth and back off, when it comes to trying to manage a relationship with the parrot. This causes the bond between the “chosen person” and parrot to grow ever stronger. In reality, it’s not difficult to create relatively evenly bonded social relationships with all people in the home.

Parrots like best the people who are most reinforcing. All you have to do is to make sure that everyone is equally reinforcing in their own ways. It’s not in a parrot’s best interests to allow him to bond solely to one person in the home.

How does one become a reinforcing person? The best way is to find ways that work for you to use positive reinforcement in your relationship with your bird. One of the best approaches is to reinforce all cued behaviors. I explained this in detail in a previous post called “Remember to Say Thank You!”

Another way is to take 5 to 10 minutes a few times a week to work on teaching specific behaviors. This too has been covered in the post “What is Training?”

The point I want to make here is in regards to the effects of this type of training. We often say that training creates trust in relationships with animals. It certainly appears to.

Chris and I have been working fairly regularly to teach her fearful donkey, Violet, to voluntarily allow us to place a halter on her. Violet now brays with anticipation as soon as she sees us and eagerly participates in the training. Overall, she shows less of an aversion to our proximity at other times also. Trust is building.

This could simply be due to the counter conditioning effect our training has created. While we have been working with her to accept the halter, we have also been pairing the treats she enjoys (carrots, alfalfa pellets, corn chips, bread, and veggie crisps) with our extended proximity. It hardly matters, though, how we want to explain this. The net result is that she shows less fearful behavior, she displays a desire to be close to us and we will very soon be able to get a halter on her without force.

A history of reinforcement can indeed act like an insurance policy for your relationship with your parrot. A good example of this came one day when Chris had to take one of her Bare-eyed cockatoos into the veterinary clinic. This was a young parent-reared parrot who had begun to show signs of feather destructive behavior.

Let’s take a second and note the use of the term parent-reared. This youngling had been raised, weaned, and fledged by his parents on the property here without interference from Chris. However, as soon as he had fledged, Chris began training efforts with him. Within a relatively short period, he would step up for her, target, and fly to her hand as willingly as his parents did.

He never knew anything but trusting interactions with her and understood that she was going to always be the bearer of good things. However, at the time he needed to go to the vet, he had not yet been trained to go into a carrier. We needed to use force to get him into one. We were both concerned about the impact this trust-destroying event would have on their relationship.

We locked him into his suspended 10 ft. x 10 ft. indoor aviary, preventing access to the larger one outdoors. Chris then had to crawl up into the aviary and use a bird net to capture him and get him into the carrier. It broke our hearts to do so, since we knew full well how stressful this was for him.

Guess what? We needn’t have worried. After he was back home and had settled back in, he picked up his relationship with Chris without missing a beat. He displayed no loss of trust and continued to interact with her confidently, as he always had.

This, my friends, is the power that a history of positive reinforcement can have in a parrot / human relationship. Please protect your relationships with your birds. At the very least, it will get you through difficult times. At most, it might just guarantee that bird’s place in your home forever.

References:

Butcher, Maddy (with Dr. Steve Peters). 2019. Horse Head: Brain Science & Other Insights. Cayuse Communications. https://cayusecommunications.com

McLeod, Saul. 2018. “Skinner – Operant Conditioning.” Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

St Peter Pipkin, C., & Vollmer, T. R. 2009. “Applied implications of reinforcement history effects. “Journal of applied behavior analysis, 42(1), 83–103. doi:10.1901/jaba.2009.42-83

Thank you for reading my blog. I am Pamela Clark, an IAABC Certified Parrot Behavior Consultant. My passion is helping people with parrots by offering behavior consultations and publishing information you can trust. To access free resources or subscribe to my newsletter (which is a different publication from this blog), please visit me at http://www.pamelaclarkonline.com. Until next time!

Exciting News!

In my last episode of this blog series about life at Cockatoo Downs, I explained about our current project. As we have waited for the baby Bare-eyed eggs to hatch, I thought it only right to give you reasons why I advocate for parrots raising their own chicks, as opposed to people raising them.

Endorsing the idea that parrots raise their own chicks can cause contentious debate in the aviculture world …from large-scale breeders, to hobby breeders, to pet store owners. In addition, parrot owners have been led to believe that only a hand-raised baby parrot will bond with them.

Although this subject is worthy of debate, it is not my intention to do so in this blog. My goal instead is to share my opinion only as to why I support and encourage the parent-raising of chicks.*

Years ago, I bred and raised many cockatoos. I either pulled eggs from the parents’ nest box for incubator hatching or pulled their young chicks for hand-feeding. That was the way it was done and still is to ensure that the chicks were human-socialized for the companion parrot market.

A chick raised by a human easily creates attachments with other humans. As a breeder, that’s the kind of bird I wanted to sell; as a consumer, that’s the kind of cockatoo you wanted to buy. It was a win-win situation. Or was it?

Let’s consider the parrot in this equation. Those who live closely with parrots know that their own birds have emotions, showing us strong, intuitive states of mind. Since our companion parrots have emotions, it only makes sense then that all parrots are sentient beings. (Mama’s Last Hug, a book by Frans de Waal, is an excellent source for learning of recent research into animal emotions.)

The more often I took babies or eggs from the parents, the more uncomfortable I became. The obvious distress shown by the parent cockatoos when I raided their nest became more and more agonizing to watch. It finally dawned on me that this was an act that totally disrespected the parents’ emotional well-being and was, in my evolving view, abusive to the welfare of the parrots. To subject breeding parrots to this disruption is ethically wrong and inhumane.

I had to ask myself an uncomfortable question: Do I serve my customer who wants a snuggly, friendly cockatoo or do I serve the cockatoo who has the birthright to be a cockatoo through and through? I came to the conclusion that a parrot has the right to be a parrot and relate to the world as a parrot. That’s when my view on hand-raising changed.

Looking at hand-rearing from the baby parrot’s point of view offers yet another welfare and ethical perspective. In my opinion, people are not good parrot parents, no matter our experience or compassion in bringing up parrot chicks. There is no way we can match, both physically and psychologically, what parrot parents offer their young.

Experienced parents spend many hours a day brooding the chicks, keeping them warm and secure, preening them, vocalizing to them, feeding them, and eventually weaning them successfully when the time is right. Just as importantly, the parrot youngster grows up knowing she is a parrot. She knows how to relate to other parrots. She has learned parrot social manners and behavior from the best teachers there are: her parents. In other words, she becomes a well-adjusted parrot.

To deprive parrot chicks their birthright is, to me, ethically unsound. People may say, “Oh, they’re just birds so what’s the big deal?” As I mentioned before, parrots are sentient beings who deserve a fair shake at life; and, that shake is better if they see the world through parrot eyes instead of eyes blinded by human influence.

Hand-raising versus parent-raising psittacines is a complicated issue. Parent-rearing and hand-raising both have costs for the parent pair, the chicks, and the people who will ultimately live with them. Certainly, the opinions I offer here cover only a small part of the issue.

There are many more components to be considered. What if the parrot pair is not successful in raising their chicks? What to do about training the parent-reared youngster for the companion market? Does parent-rearing guarantee that the offspring will be well-adjusted individuals? Does the typical companion parrot owner have the skills to live with a parent-reared bird so that they both will thrive? Pros and cons of hand-raising versus parent-raising are many and they each deserve close inspection in order for people to come to their own conclusions.

I, for one, am letting my personal ethics on how animals in captivity should be treated determine my choice. I am comfortable with it and look forward to illuminating for you the world of parent-raised cockatoos and how I, Pam, Bebe and Flash, along with their little ones, will learn to live together in harmony.

*It’s worth noting that the Netherlands became the first country to outlaw the hand-rearing of parrots in 2014.

Just for Fun…and a Bit of History

I’d like to give a brief history of how I got into free flying. Almost forty years ago, Popcorn, a handsome, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo came to me as a youngster. He was my pet or, in today’s parlance, my companion. Popcorn and I had a great relationship and I thought it would be wonderful if he could learn to free fly outdoors.

I pretty much knew nothing about training for free flight and I cringe now recalling how I just sort of opened the door and said to Popcorn, “Fly! Be free!” Well, I wasn’t really that irresponsible, but it was close.

I’d take Popcorn on my hand and hang outside with him while he learned what the great outdoors was all about. I’d put him on the deck railing and ask for short recalls, which he did inconsistently. Because I was naive and ignorant about free flight training, I figured that, since he flew to me about 50% of the time when requested, that was good enough. Yikes!

That was his training, in a nutshell, and I was super darn lucky he was smart and kept his head about him and learned and managed on his own the dangers of flying outdoors. He was a successful flyer for thirty years.

Now, of course, I do things much differently. My knowledge and skills at training have improved. And, I certainly don’t take free flight as nonchalantly as I did with Popcorn.

First, I choose the right candidates for free flight, as not all parrots are suitable for such an activity. I do have cockatoos who do not fly outdoors. Most importantly, I train recall to fluency under different conditions. There are a passel of factors that go into making a competent flyer, the discussion of which I will leave for another blog.

The way I fly my birds may be different from how other people free fly their parrots. Of particular note, I don’t take them to another location to fly. They haven’t been trained for an entertainment show or for display. They instead have been trained to be competent flyers at home where they live. The birds and I have become close friends and companions – a cohesive group made up of independent individuals.

As I stand in wonder daily at their intelligence and flight capabilities, I try to imagine the world as they do. I fail miserably, short of even an inkling of what it’s like for them, because I am bound to the earth.

I will say that they seem to be just as interested in my terrestrial life as I am in their aerial one. They find my activities entertaining to watch or participate in as I dig holes, fix fences, haul hay, pull weeds, or just sit on the deck swing and relax.

Free flying my cockatoos is a natural and common activity here at Cockatoo Downs, yet I don’t ever take it for granted. For me it is an amazing experience watching them maneuver in their world of flight; to them it is just another day doing what birds are supposed to do…fly!

The Latest News!

Flash and Bebe have a chick! He/she hatched May 26. Pam was feeding the cockatoos, since I was out of town. She noticed unusual behavior from Flash and Bebe.

They were out together on a branch in front of the nest box. This was unusual in itself, since at least one of them at a time has remained in the nest box for some weeks. Both were displaying in a unique way, mirroring each others’ movements as they walked back and forth, vocalizing together.

Pam interpreted this as an announcement of their new bundle of joy and relayed this to me when I got home. We can’t really know for sure, of course, what their display meant, but I like to think the proud parents were sending out a baby pronouncement.

The next morning, I fed breakfast at the front of their aviary as usual. Both birds came out to eat, but Bebe quickly returned to the box after a few bites. Flash remained at the breakfast bar.

I went into the aviary cautiously to listen for a peep or two. I didn’t know how Flash would react, now that there was possibly a little one. He paid me no mind at all, continuing to stuff his face. I believe that this behavior is the result of all the trust that we have built between us through our long history of positive reinforcement training. Most parents with new chicks would never respond to an intrusion like that in such a calm manner. I got very close to the box and heard a few faint peeps as Bebe settled herself into the nest. For joy! Stay tuned as the adventure continues.

Part Six: Ensuring the Safety of Your Flighted Parrot

The biggest risk for flighted parrots, upon which all agree (whether pro-clipping or pro-flight), is that of permanent loss outdoors.

It must be recognized, however, that this risk is equal for both clipped parrots and those with full flight. Although risk of escape is often touted as the most important reason to clip wings, it is actually clipped parrots who are most often lost in this manner. There are a couple of scenarios in which this happens.

First, parrots who live with clipped wings for years stop trying to fly. Since the birds no longer try to fly, their owners believe that they can’t or won’t fly and take them outside unrestrained. Still others believe that their strong bonds of love would prevent the parrot from making the choice to fly away.

While the latter is a sweet sentiment, an unrestrained parrot will fly away if startled. If the bird has flight capability and startles, so that his flight is fueled with adrenaline, and the day happens to be windy, he can easily be lost for good. He will not have the flight skills to come down out of the tree or return to the area, lengthening his time outdoors and putting him at greater risk of predation. The flight that carries the parrot off under these circumstances is not a choice. It is a reaction to a scary stimulus.

Notice how the flight feathers cross over the tail and are a richer, darker blue.

Further, most people who routinely clip wings don’t know what flight feathers look like once they have grown back in. Flight feathers are longer and often cross over the tail. They also tend to be a different color than the shorter wing feathers in multi-colored parrots. Not recognizing that the parrot has molted and now needs another wing trim, these owners again take their birds outdoors on their shoulders, believing that the birds are not able to fly off because the bird is “clipped.”

Finally, even light-bodied parrots with well-clipped wings can get away under the same circumstances. For example, cockatiels and small conures often fly well even with wing trims. It is not safe to take any parrots outdoors unless in a safe enclosure, or unless in the very rare circumstance that they have been thoroughly trained by an expert for free flight.

The level of risk, when it comes to losing a fully flighted parrot, is lower than you might imagine. Those who lack experience with birds who fly often imagine that they are just waiting for an opportunity to fly right out any open door. This is not the case.

Parrots like what they know, what is familiar. No parrot makes the decision intentionally to leave the safety and security of his home to fly out a door into the unknown. In the majority of cases in which this happens, it is because the parrot is trying to join the owner.

It is a parrot’s nature to follow the flock. When you live with flighted parrots, they follow you from room to room unless prevented from doing so. The attempt to follow you as you leave the house or to join you as you return from being gone is a natural extension of this behavior. While exceptions will always occur, this is how most flighted parrots are lost outdoors.

Understanding this dynamic then makes risk management in this area more straightforward. The best solution is to establish a double-entry system to which all family members agree to adhere. This might be as simple as exiting the house into the garage first, rather than using the front door, and then leaving the house through the garage door. Granted, this is inconvenient, but so is searching for days for a lost parrot.

Others build small enclosures inside or outside of their main entry door so that they can exit into the enclosure, and then when assured that they don’t have a parrot with them, exit the secondary enclosure. For example, if your front door leads into a hallway, a second door could be installed at the end of that hallway inside the home.

For those of us who don’t have the possibility of either option, creativity must come into play and vigilance must be practiced. I live in a small home with two exit doors in the main living area. My front door offers a straight shot out of the house. Therefore, I have furniture in front of that door and keep the deadbolt locked all the time.

Instead, I use my kitchen door for all entries and exits. My kitchen is long and narrow so it is harder for a bird to fly down that length and get outdoors. When I am ready to leave the house, I walk to that door, then turn to see where all the parrots are. If they are all quiety perched at a distance, I exit quickly. I have also trained my dog to sit and wait until I give her the cue, so she too exits quickly with me. (This is a system I would not recommend; it works for me only because I live alone and have few visitors.)

No matter how good your loss prevention efforts are, accidents do happen and parrots don’t always behave in predictable ways. That is why, if you choose to live with birds that fly, you must plan for the day when they do get outdoors.

About 12 years ago, I lost Marko, one of my greys, outdoors. I arrived home from work. My daughter was visiting and had let the birds out of their cages. As I entered the house, I found my progress blocked by my two enthusiastic large dogs happily greeting me. At the same time, Marko flew to me. She landed on my shoulder as I was trying to get inside and then, startled, continued out the door.

However, I had her back within 20 minutes because I had prepared for that day. My preparations, outlined below, should be those that you follow as well. I once spent years offering advice on an internet discussion list for people who live with flighted parrots and it was extremely rare for anyone not to get their parrot back, if they followed the suggestions below:

Teach your bird to fly to you on cue. Not just sometimes over a short distance. Work on this behavior on a daily basis until your parrot has such a rock solid recall that he will fly to you from any room of the house as soon as you call. A parrot who has a strong history of flying to your hand will be more likely to leave a tree branch or rooftop to fly down to you. Trusted resource Stephanie Edlund offers a course on how to each recall to a parrot.
Ensure that your parrot has excellent flight skills – that he can fly around sharp corners, upwards and downwards at steep inclines, can hover, and has stamina. This means that he flies a lot, which means that you have to provide him with a lifestyle in which he gets to fly a lot. If your home is small, take him somewhere larger to practice. Learning to fly upward and downward is easiest in a two-story house. If your home is on one level, ask him to fly downward to you from hanging perches and upward to you from the floor. Endurance can be encouraged by asking him to fly from one location to another in sequence, which can be turned into an enjoyable game for you both.
Provide your parrot plenty of time outdoors in a safe enclosure. An aviary is the best option for this. A google search will locate the many companies that make and ship these. Alternatively, a deck or porch can also be turned into an aviary. A parrot who spends plenty of time outdoors will become used to the sights and sounds of the neighborhood. Once used to the stimuli present around your home, your bird will be much less likely to startle and fly far away if caught outdoors. Make sure you always use a carrier when transporting your bird out to his aviary and back again.
Get your parrot used to a sound that is associated with warm, yummy food. A spoon clinked against the side of a glass measuring cup works nicely for this. To do so, regularly share a bit of warm (not hot) food with your bird. Suggestions include oatmeal, mashed sweet potatoes and scrambled eggs. Clink the spoon against the cup before every bite. Following this practice weekly will create an association in your bird’s mind between that particular sound and the comfort of a warm treat. You can then use this sound to encourage your parrot to come down out of that tree!
Never use force with your parrot. If you do, you’ll be giving him a good reason not to fly back to you if he is lost.
Familiarize yourself with recovery strategies. You will dramatically increase your chances of getting him back if you do the right things at the right times in the case of loss. Barbara Heidenreich has an excellent article on this, which should be printed out and kept in a safe place in case it is needed.

Windows are often touted as dangerous to flighted parrots. Certainly enough parrots have been injured, fatally or otherwise, by flying headlong into windows. However, this is the sort of thing that happens with inexperienced flyers who startle and fly without thinking. Fully flighted parrots with good skills do not fly into windows, unless very unusual circumstances are in place.

If you have determined that your parrot is a good candidate for flight and are transitioning him from a clipped lifestyle to full flight, then you will have to protect him from flying into windows as he develops his skills. There are a number of strategies for this:

Rub a thick layer of bar soap over the windows to create an opaque appearance, then remove this little by little as your parrot learns that the window is a solid surface. This is the best option.
Install the Wingdow perches on your larger windows. This is an expensive option, but one that would increase quality of life over the long run.
Alternatively, always have curtains drawn or blinds down to cushion any impact and to present the window area as a solid surface. Gradually open these as the bird learns.
Masking tape, if applied in abundance to the window surface, may also help to convey this effect, but is a lot more of a hassle. A strip or two, or the use of decals, will not be effective.
Parrots can be allowed to hang out on window sills to interact with the glass, again teaching them that a solid surface exists. (I’m not sure how effective this is, but I and others have used it when training fledgling birds.)
During warmer weather, when windows are likely to be open, make sure that all window screens are firmly attached. More than one parrot has been lost when it flew into a window screen that was loose.

The other risks related to living with flighted parrots all reside within the realm of risk management. Here’s the definition of risk management: The forecasting and evaluation of risks, together with the identification of procedures to avoid or minimize their impact. In other words, you have to be observant, evaluate your environment, use your imagination to identify potential problems that could occur and then, by planning ahead and implementing prevention strategies, make sure that those things don’t happen.

In reality, the risks in most homes are fewer than have been imagined and described by those who haven’t lived with flying birds. Parrots are learners and wicked smart. They will over time learn about the things they should avoid. However, accidents can happen and a distracted parrot who is still learning to fly can land in a spot he did not intend.

The following should not be considered to be a finite list and is not a replacement for evaluating your own environment:

Keep cook pots covered when on the burner.
If you take a pan off of a hot burner, replace it with a tea kettle full of water to cover the hot surface.
Don’t use ceiling fans – take the blades off, or disable the switch, or purchase the type that has a cage around it.
Keep your toilet lid down or your bathroom door closed.
Never use fly strips.
Keep electrical cords out of reach.
Get into the habit of looking up before you close a door – parrots have been known to perch there.
Don’t keep toxic houseplants.
Do not allow your parrot to hang out on your shoulder. If you do, the day will come when you absentmindedly walk out the door to get the mail with him along for the ride.
Discourage him from spending time on the floor by teaching him to station.
If you live with smaller parrots, don’t leave tall glasses filled with liquid out unsupervised.
Provide a barricade around a wood stove and make the area otherwise unattractive.
If you have a dog who exhibits a prey drive, hire an experienced positive reinforcement trainer to help you resolve that behavior.

Living with a flighted parrot brings many joys, but also great responsibility. This is the Catch-22 of parrot ownership. Sooner or later, if we truly love the spirit that resides within those feathers, we grow uncomfortable with wing clipping. Once that happens, and we begin that journey of living with flighted parrots, we no longer have the option of living thoughtlessly or carelessly within our own homes.

Thank you for reading my blog. I am Pamela Clark, an IAABC Certified Parrot Behavior Consultant. My passion is helping people with parrots by offering behavior consultations and publishing information you can trust. To access free resources or subscribe to my newsletter (which is a different publication from this blog), please visit me at http://www.pamelaclarkonline.com. Until next time!

New Beginnings

Dear Readers: For the next several months, this blog will be published every week. I am bringing to you an experience you can find no where else. Every other week, my friend Chris Shank will be sharing the extraordinary story of current events at her aviary, Cockatoo Downs, as a guest blogger. On the off weeks, I will be bringing you my own thoughts, as I have been for over a year now. The following is from Chris:

I was down by the creek, clearing some brush with my free flight companion, Tyke, a Bare-eyed Cockatoo. Ritzie, another Bare-eyed, was off on one of his many flight adventures. Tyke and I were among the trees so, when I heard Ritzie give repetitive contact calls from afar, I figured he didn’t know where we were.

I had him in my sights, though, and yelled out our recall cue. Immediately, he made a beeline towards the direction of my call. I watched as he swerved through the trees and made a soft landing on the creek bridge where Tyke and I were working. I marveled at his skills and willingness to respond to my call. You see, Ritzie is a parent-raised free flying cockatoo, unlike Tyke who was hand-raised.

Controversy: Hand-raising vs. Parent-Reared?

Current prevailing “wisdom” recommends that companion parrots destined for free flight must be hand-raised, thereby making it easier to create a stronger bond with their caretakers. This human-parrot bond, so the theory goes, is the foundation for achieving success at flying a parrot outdoors. Countering that theory, parent-raised Ritzie and his brother, Flash, have achieved masterful free flight skills and positive human-cockatoo relationships through positive reinforcement training alone. From that training a trusting partnership has developed between us.

These siblings were raised by their cockatoo parents through fledging. When Ritzie and Flash left the nest, they learned from their parents (who were also competent and confident outdoor flyers) what free flying was all about. While their parents taught them flight skills, I taught them people skills such as recalling to my hand, stepping up when cued, stationing on a perch, and touching a target stick.

We accomplished all of that and more. Now, nine years later, the brothers are consummate flyers and eager participants in training sessions, not only with me, but with people who come here to participate in our many training workshops. This proves to me that parrots need not be hand raised to become willing partners, learners and skilled free flyers.

In Honor of Asta

There’s a free flight project in the making at Cockatoo Downs and it’s all because of Asta, my Bare-eyed Cockatoo. You can see her in the masthead of this blog and in the photo below. She was a super free flyer along with being a best friend to me and her pal, Rebbie, a Philippine Cockatoo. I lost her due to cancer in April 2019.

Pam and I thought the best way to honor her memory and her incredible self was to add more magnificent Bare-eyes (is there any other kind?) to the flock. I’m sure she would approve. So here’s to you, Asta! Wish us luck.

The Project

Flash has paired up with another trained Bare-eyed Cockatoo free flyer, Bebe. Both birds were parent-reared. They are very bonded and are sure to make good parents. I will be journaling the progress of this cockatoo couple from their nest box preparations to brooding, to raising their chicks, to watching them fledge, and onwards through training and flying outside. I’ll be sharing this sure-to-be fascinating journey with you as it progresses.

The Aviary

Bebe and Flash live in a spacious 20 ft. x 40 ft. outdoor aviary. The aviary is planted in grass and has a variety of plants growing seasonally, on which the birds regularly forage. The aviary is connected to the bird barn. A window in the barn wall allows the cockatoos to enter and exit their indoor barn cage (which is 10 ft. by 10 ft.) where their food and water are kept.

The Nestbox

The nest box is made of plywood and was erected on April 18. It’s anchored securely on the barn wall at the back of the aviary. The access hole was purposely kept small to allow the birds to enlarge the hole themselves. In the box, I placed medium-sized chunks of wood for them to chew up, rearrange, or simply toss out the hole. All of this remodeling gets them into breeding mode and facilitates a team effort. Both birds worked on the access hole either together or separately; and, after three days they were able to enter the box.

Brooding

I have purposely chosen not to look in the nest box at any time so as not to disturb the couple. After about a week after entering the box, I saw signs that eggs had been laid. Now, there was always one bird in the box while the other was outside. I also observed another clue. When Bebe emerged from the box and came to the front of the aviary for a treat, I noticed there was a small bare brood patch in the middle of her chest. Flash had one also. If my calculations are correct, eggs should be hatching the week of May 20.

Training

At Cockatoo Downs we practice positive reinforcement and force-free training. I have worked with Bebe and Flash throughout their lives. Training is not on a schedule, but I do try to work with them a couple of times a week either in their aviary or while they are out flying. In their aviary, I have perches set up where they have learned to station, target, and recall to me. They have also readily worked for Pam and people who come to our training events.

Because Bebe and Flash are willing and enthusiastic participants in their training, they will be excellent role models for their youngsters. The newly fledged little ones should find nothing bizarre about this strange looking creature (me) working with their parents. My hope is that they will participate as well.

Going Forward

I am grateful to Pam for allowing me to share the adventures of our new free flight family. If the stars align the way they should, there will be chicks to write about in the next episode. I can hardly wait to hear the soft peep, peep, peeping coming from the nest box. Stay tuned!

Disclaimer: I do not recommend nor promote that companion parrots be flown outside without the owner having a solid knowledge of training and behavior and also being assisted in person by an expert parrot trainer with extensive experience in free flight.

Chris Shank’s love of parrots began with a wild little budgie named Tampiki. Chris’ natural talents at training created over time a trusting relationship with what she calls that “tiny puff of turquoise feathers.” Years later, Chris graduated from the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College in California. Her internship was done at Busch Gardens where she became part of the parrot show. She next worked as a dolphin trainer at Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara. From there, she continued her work with dolphins in Hasslock, Germany. Her love for cockatoos came after a relocation to the Philippines. Once back in the United States, she established her aviary Cockatoo Downs, where she has regularly offered training and education to parrot owners for many years now. She is an internationally-recognized expert in free flight.

Part Five: Cooperative Living with Flighted Parrots

Often, when I talk about living with flighted parrots to someone who has always clipped wings, they get a look on their face that could be interpreted as a combination of horror, perplexity, and complete consternation. You can tell that they can’t even begin to wrap their minds around what that might look like, or why one would want to.

I stopped clipping wings back in the late 1990’s. As I had gained more hands-on experience with birds, it just seemed to be a no-brainer that they should enjoy flight. So, I made the decision with an abundance of enthusiasm and the confidence that, “I’ll just figure this out!”

I don’t actually recommend this approach to those of you considering transitioning from living with a wing-clipped parrot to living with a bird who flies. It’s much easier to have a bit of guidance from someone who has experience in this area. Thus, I offer this blog post to you, so that you can avoid some of the hassles that I had due to my own inexperience.

Keys to Success

The ability to live cooperatively with flighted birds depends upon three main areas of management: (1) setting up the environment effectively, (2) training yourself to be continually mindful, and (3) learning how to efficiently provide behavioral guidance. You’re going to have to accept the fact that you’ll be doing some training to maintain compliance.

If you don’t, you will have an out-of-control experience with your bird and will wind up relegating him to his cage whenever you can’t directly supervise. One hallmark of quality of life is the ability to make choices. That is why a flighted bird is so lucky. His ability to move around is not compromised, so he can make a lot more choices.

If allowing flight means that your bird stays in his cage for longer periods, you have accomplished nothing for his quality of life. You might as well keep clipping wings so that he can at least be out of his cage more often.

Managing the Environment

I once adopted a baby grey to a family who were so committed to allowing flight that they had remodeled their entire home to realize this first goal of having the ideal environment. All doorways were turned into arches to eliminate molding. Kitchen cabinets extended all the way down to the floor. The refrigerator fit into a recess in the wall so that no bird could perch on top of it to chew the gasket. It was quite remarkable.

You don’t have to go to that extreme, of course, but a bit of work is needed to achieve the objective of flighted feathers and earth-bound humans living side by side in cooperative fashion.

Birds want to perch up high and flighted parrots go where they want. They will perch on bookcases and chew the spines of the books. Many seem to have a particular fondness for lampshades. They enjoy sitting on top of doors to chew the molding.

Therefore, you will need to provide your flighted bird with his own “furnishings,” in order to keep him off of your own. The ideal environment will have a perch in every room to which your parrot has access. It is a bird’s nature to follow the flock and a flighted parrot will follow you from room to room. Skillful placement of hanging perches, free-standing perches and table-top perches will help to guarantee that the experience is fun for all. At the end of this post, I have included a list of perches that I know from personal experience to be attractive to parrots.

Hanging perches are especially valuable. While these may seem, at first glance, inconvenient to install and maintain, they will make life so much easier. Birds naturally seek the highest place to perch. By providing perches that hang from the ceiling, your bird will be more likely to choose those instead of your own furnishings.

It is a parrot’s nature to chew where he is perched. Window ledges and the corners of walls will be at risk. Home improvement stores sell acrylic corners that can be easily screwed in place to protect these. Bannisters can be wrapped with sisal rope.

If there is enough space above your kitchen cabinets for a bird to perch, it will be best to place a piece of acrylic or wood on top that extends an inch or two past the cabinets to prevent chewing on the tops of the doors. The same suggestion would hold true for the top of your refrigerator. It’s huge fun to perch on the blades of ceiling fans and chew these. It’s best to purchase a fan inside a cage – they do exist.

Electrical cords can be a hazard and replacing appliances gets to be a real drag. These can be protected either by using cord channels or black pliable irrigation tubing slit down the center and placed around the wire.

If you allow your birds to perch on your shower rod and happen to have a shower curtain, placing a second rod above the one that holds the curtain will prevent the need to replace that regularly.

If your bird never fledged or has been clipped for a few years, he might not fly much or venture into other rooms at first, causing you to think that my suggestions are somewhat over-the-top. However, as he builds his flight skills and gains confidence, he will eventually begin to explore your entire house and it will become his territory as well.

Managing the Mess

It’s hard to say whether flighted birds create more mess than their clipped counterparts. Parrots are just messy – period! The answer probably depends upon where diets and enrichment items are offered and whether your bird likes to fly with his food and eat it in different locations. There are some actions you can take to minimize the mess.

Locate hanging perches directly over cages or play stands. If that’s not possible, use area rugs. Purchase two sets. I like the ones that have non-slip backing and can be washed and dried. I haven’t yet tried the Ruggable brand, but they look ideal for this purpose and look a little classier. When you need to wash the rugs currently under your perches, simply lay down your second set.

If there is a tight spot that tends to collect droppings because you can’t get a rug to fit, Glad Press and Seal is invaluable. Having a light adhesive backing, it can be applied directly to a clean (uncarpeted) floor and then replaced when needed. For smaller messes, keeping a good quantity of small cleaning cloths and a spray bottle filled with cleaning agent is a good strategy for quick clean-ups.

Probably the best way to deal with mess is to contain it to certain areas. This will involve encouraging your bird to stay on the perches you have provided, which is covered in the section on Managing their Behavior.

Managing Ourselves

A friend once made me laugh by commenting that the only people who could use the remote controls in her house were the ones with long fingernails. We’ve all lost a remote control or three, depending upon how quickly we learn and how distracted we tend to be. We count ourselves lucky if they only take the buttons.

Parrots love electronics. Even the best among us have experienced a sneak attack on these valuables. Dr. Susan Friedman in a presentation once used a photograph of what her computer keyboard looked like after her Umbrella Cockatoo had quietly let himself out of his cage in the early hours of the morning. Of course, a clipped parrot could manage the same, but those who fly have increased access.

We have to learn to remember to cover computers with towels, put remotes away in a cupboard, keep certain doors closed, and not leave anything out in plain sight that might be attractive for chewing. This is essentially an exercise in mindfulness and the ability to anticipate problems.

We must think ahead when making purchases. For example, you might decide not to replace your old, worn furniture with a set of rattan. You get the idea. This is probably going to have to be a learn by doing experience. Be assured, the fun of living with a flighted spirit makes it worthwhile.

Managing Their Behavior

Life with parrots is always easier when we accept the fact that we must actively steer their behavior into desirable channels. When you live with birds who fly, getting into the mindset of living as a trainer is essential.

If you don’t, your experience may very well get out of control. Parrots constantly offer behavior, as all animals do. This is especially true of birds who fly. The more active a bird can be, the more behavior he can offer, and the more opportunities he has to act on the environment. Some of this behavior, you won’t like.

If you don’t step up and teach him what you want him TO DO, you will wind up behaving toward him in a very aversive manner – chasing him off locations where you don’t want him to be, acting like a crazy person when you find that he’s destroyed your containers of expensive make-up, and using force to get him back into his cage. Besides being incredibly uncool, this type of behavior will break all trust and make having a parrot no fun at all.

Thus, you’ve got to teach the behaviors that will allow him to be successful and for you to have control over your experience. I will describe these briefly; information on how to teach most of these is available in abundance online.

Five Essential Behaviors to Teach and Maintain

Step-Up: The majority of birds who have been deemed good candidates for flight already step up, at least some of the time. Likely, you will just need to maintain compliance by making sure to always reinforce this with a preferred food or head scratch. A valuable practice: Ask your bird a few times a day to step up, provide a reward, and then put him right back down again. This is good advice for any parrot.

Step-Off: Birds who are strongly bonded to you may have a more difficult time with this one. If so, choose a reinforcer of high value to the parrot and show it to him when giving the cue, at least in the beginning. Reinforce every time you cue this behavior with a high value treat.

Stationing: Teaching your parrot to primarily use his own “furniture” is an essential practice. Three important benefits derive from this:

It keeps him off of your shoulder, which avoids the formation of a pair bond and fosters his continuing independence.
It helps to prevent damage to household items.
It prevents cavity seeking behavior.

Instructions for stationing can be found on my website.

The Drop: You will thank yourself a millions times over if you teach your parrot to drop an item on cue. It saves a lot of money in replacing pens and will keep him safe if he ever picks up anything dangerous.

Offer him an item to take with his beak, such as a poker chip or whiffle ball. Once he takes it, show him a food treat or something else he might want more and ask him to “Drop.” Once he has, give him the other them. Practice this often with a variety of things, gradually working up to those that are more valuable to him.

The Recall: Teaching your bird to come when called is a must. Having a rock-solid recall is essential to a happy relationship and drastically increases your chances of getting him back if he is lost. This can be taught a couple of different ways. My favorite: If he has a habit of flying to your shoulder, turn when you hear him coming and say “Fly here” while holding up your hand so that he lands there. Reward him with a treat. As he learns that “Fly here” means to come and land on your hand, you can begin to cue him from a variety of different locations.

Following these simple suggestions will go a long way toward ensuring that you establish a happy and cooperative existence with your parrot.

One final suggestion: If you have never lived with a flighted parrot or currently have challenges with your bird who flies, please either call me for a consultation or get help from another qualified mentor. As Dr. Patricia McConnell once wrote about dog training: “You wouldn’t try to learn basketball just by reading a book, so if you need to play the game, do what any parent would do for their child, and find a good, knowledgeable coach.”

Resources for Perches

The AviHang and AviStation from My Birdie Buddy
Oddball Perches and Crawlers from Oliver’s Garden
Planets from Parrot Planet Paradise
The Get A Grip Climbing Nets from StarBird Parrot
Bungees from Super Bird Creations
Window Seats and playstands from Wingdow

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My friend, Chris Shank, and I often discuss parrots and their welfare. We share some serious concerns about both how baby parrots are hand-raised in captivity and the recent insistence among free-flight enthusiasts that candidates must be hand-reared and encouraged to develop a bond of dependence in order to be successful.

Chris has free flown her cockatoos for over 30 years and is an expert on the subject. Several years ago, two Bare-eyed Cockatoos were raised here by their parents and became successful free fliers through positive reinforcement training.

This spring, two parent-raised Bare-eyed Cockatoos have gone to nest and are currently sitting on eggs. Therefore, their offspring will be second-generation parent-reared birds and will become free flyers themselves. Chris will be revealing her experiences here as a guest blogger so that you all can share in this fascinating and exciting experience. We hope to show that hand-rearing is not necessary to have a trusting relationship with a young parrot and that a young parrot raised to be independent can succeed at free flight.

Please note that neither Chris nor I advocate free flight for the average owner, especially the flight of a single parrot.

Thank you for reading my blog. I am Pamela Clark, an IAABC Certified Parrot Behavior Consultant. My passion is helping people with parrots by offering behavior consultations and publishing information you can trust. To access free resources or subscribe to my newsletter (which is a different publication from this blog), please visit me at http://www.pamelaclarkonline.com. Until next time!

Early Preparations

Early Lessons

End of the “Honeymoon Period”

Signs of Trouble

My Behavior-Change Plan

Environmental Modifications

Changes to the Daily Schedule

The Latest News

Just for Fun!

Which Parrots are Good Free Flight Candidates?

The Necessity for Fledging

The Process of Fledging

Does Species Matter?

The Parrot’s Size

The Parrot’s Age

Essentials for Success

The Latest News!

Just for Fun!

First Phone Call

Second Phone Call

Game On

Creating Appropriate Challenges

Creating His Social Experience

A Diversity of Experience

The Realities of Free Flight

The Caretaker Trainer

Isn’t Our Bond Enough?

Necessary Factors

Online Courses vs. Direct Mentoring

The Latest News!

Just For Fun

The Complexities of Hand-rearing

Wild vs. Captive Chick Feeding

Relationships with Parent-Reared Chicks

What Do We Really Want in a Cockatoo?

Early Stages for Training

The Latest News!

Just For Fun

Just for Fun…and a Bit of History

The Latest News!

Controversy: Hand-raising vs. Parent-Reared?

In Honor of Asta

The Project

The Aviary

The Nestbox

Brooding

Training

Going Forward

Keys to Success

Managing the Environment

Managing the Mess

Managing Ourselves

Managing Their Behavior

Five Essential Behaviors to Teach and Maintain

Resources for Perches

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